The best place to learn the game

Where is the best place to learn? Online? Playing with friends face to face? casinos?

Can you gain much experience from watching only, if so, TV or online?

How far can you go learning on a play money table?

Personally, I find play money tables annoying, okay to learn the basics, but it's play money, no one takes it the same way as hard cash tables. Even a 5c/10c table plays different to a play money table.

I like to watch on TV, sometimes online, but I think the best way to learn, basics, strategy is to play.

Of course all this entirely depends on where you're going and what level you wish to play at!

Who thinks what?

YOU NEED TO PLAY!!!

THE only way to gain solid experience is to PLAY.

Yes, you can learn things from watching players online or on TV, but nothing beats holding the cards in your hands either live or online.

I would suggest the play money sit-n-go tournaments at Poker Stars. They have a very nice system for play money there.

Also, the .05/.10 games are about the same as play money, many loose players. Start with the basics and only play ABC poker. Don't even try any advanced plays until you learn how to play your cards and read your opponents.

if you're a total newbie, i'd start with one good book and one good poker software, and read and practice with the AI players for 2-3 months. that should give you the gifts of patience and self-discipline.
then, i'd start play money tourneys, and stars IMHO has the best ones-9/18/27/45-player STT/MTTs that most times exhibit surprisingly decent level of play. also, you may then start a few freerolls here and there.
after 4-6 months total, you should get out and start playing freerolls as well as real money sats/tourneys, all depending of course on what youre interested in.
p.s.: keep a book on your play, that helps a lot.

To learn the game fast, you need to PLAY...far from the casino IMO.

Depends

I think it really depends on what kinda poker your trying to learn. Limit and no limit are very different games and tournements are a variation different from both. If you only wanna play online then playing only online is fine but their is expecience that can only truely be gained from live action games whether in casino's or homegames

Also TV poker is not a very good way to learn due to the very specific nature of the poker shown. It shows the final tables of tournements and even within that the only show the most exiting hands so it give you a very skewed perspective of how tournements should be played

Have to agree with Chicub 1616 the play money sit & go's at poker stars seem to draw fairly serious players especially the 10,000 to 25,000 buy-ins

PokRok said:

Where is the best place to learn? Online? Playing with friends face to face? Casinos?

Click to expand...

These playing environments are all so radically different one from another that I would have to answer "yes", "yes", and "yes"!

Online is the most convenient way to acquire the basic "how to" skills of poker. You learn the mechanics of the game, the blinds and betting structures. You can play anytime you like, at any limit you like, in your own home. You get to see many, many more hands due to the increased speed of play, which can only hasten your development. And you get to make mistakes in relative anonymity without the fear of public embarrassment.

Playing with friends allows you to take that a step further by actually handling the cards and chips, shuffling & dealing the deck, and learning how the dealer-in-turn manages the table. All of these things are done for you online, so you must get off the computer to sharpen your live chops. You also get to enjoy the camaraderie of friendly play, which is one of poker's greatest virtues. Flesh & blood faces take the place of avatars, giving you the chance to start developing your "reading" skills.

Finally, the casino is where you combine the basics you learned online with the table skills you picked up from the home games. It's not nearly as intimidating an arena to step into if you've laid a good foundation for yourself with online play and neighborhood rings. After a few hands, you'll be able to relax and concentrate on your cards, not what you're supposed to be doing next.

The best place to learn? In my opinion, you've got to have all three under your belt to be a complete player who's comfortable in any setting, ready to go to war and win.

Play money is almost useless for anything other than the basics, however I've found that the play money tournaments are a little better. There's got to be something at stake for poker to have any meaning. There really is no substitute for playing but you can learn a lot from TV. Even the celebrity games can be educational. Knowing what not to do is as important as knowing what to do.

Four Dogs said:

There really is no substitute for playing but you can learn a lot from TV.

Click to expand...

This is particularly true of heads-up play. Think about what percentage of total playing time you get in head-to-head. Unless you're signing up for heads-up sit-n-go's, probably very small. But television LOVES heads-up action, so you get to see a lot of it. As a player who struggled with h2h poker, I can vouch that studying how the pros on tv play certain starting hands has been extremely helpful.

The only way to learn the nature of the game is to lose a couple hundreds of dollars.If you start playing and make 500$ from lets say 50$ you will start thinking you are some god poker player go to bigger tables and get eaten alive by better players which valuer more there money .After you lose $$$ you will start thinking with your head and not your heart and you will not let your emotions control you.If after your loses you are still controled by emotion run run run away from every type of gamble

I agree, you just have to keep playing as much as you can. Try to read a book before you start playing (I recomend Harrington on Hold'em) and then just keep playing.